


make-believe

by writers_haven



Category: The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, cute cute cute, honestly there is no better way to put it apart from that, tina is tiny and a treasure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-19
Updated: 2016-03-19
Packaged: 2018-05-27 18:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6295921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writers_haven/pseuds/writers_haven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico and Will finally tell each other the truth. </p><p>By playing a game.</p><p>Where they're both moms.</p><p>or</p><p>the one where will and nico play house</p>
            </blockquote>





	make-believe

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [these ridiculous sentence prompts](http://haven-writes.tumblr.com/post/140943480978/ridiculous-sentence-prompts), as requested by [agricolaesumus](http://agricolaesumus.tumblr.com) on Tumblr. The prompt was “I’m sorry that I got way into playing house and I kissed you passionately.”
> 
> Also posted [on Tumblr](http://haven-writes.tumblr.com/post/141321755688/thanks-agricolaesumus-for-the-prompt-it-was-lots) if you prefer to read it there.

Nico stepped out of Cabin 13 an hour before breakfast. Early morning or late night were really the only times Camp Half-Blood was peaceful. If Nico came out any other time, some camper or another was bound to try to get him to participate in camp activities. (He didn’t mind archery or sparring or even sculpting weird shit out of clay, but climbing up a wall of lava? Not exactly Nico’s idea of a good time.)

In the mornings, though. There was a thin layer of mist in the air. The sun hadn’t fully come up, so the sky was still dim and gray. There was a stillness in the air, disturbed only by the occasional satyr running about getting things ready for the day. Yes, Nico much preferred Camp Half-Blood like this. Nobody screaming with laughter. No idiotic practical jokes being pulled (Leo Valdez and the Stoll brothers were a bad mix). Just peace and quiet.

Will liked to call him an old man for hating noisy people as much as he did. Will was technically right, since Nico was born about eighty years ago, but Nico still hated it ~~because Nico wanted Will to want to date him, and nobody wanted to date an old man~~.

“Nico!”

Speak of the devil. Nico sighed. There went his peaceful morning, he lamented, not at all delighted to see Will, not even a little.

“Good morning,” Nico said quietly, coming over to where Will and a tiny blonde girl were sitting, in the shelter of some low tree branches. “What are you doing up so early?”

Will beamed at him, bright like the sun. “Tina couldn’t sleep,” he explained, gesturing to the little girl who was blinking her huge blue eyes at Nico curiously. “We were just about to play a game, do you want to join us?”

“Uh,” said Nico nervously. He wasn’t good with new people, let alone kids. He was pretty sure poor Tina would hate for him to butt in on playtime with her (loving, charismatic, perfect) brother.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine!” Will reassured him. “Right, Tina?

Tina was, like every Apollo kid, a ball of sunshine. “Sure!” she chirped, bouncing to her feet and stretching out her hand for Nico to shake. “I’m Tina and I’m eight!”

Nico glanced nervously at Will before gingerly shaking her hand. His hand was cold as ice compared to hers, but she didn’t seem to mind. “Nico,” he said awkwardly. “It’s, uh, nice to meet you.”

“Mama says this is a place for special kids,” Tina said proudly. “I’m super good with the bow and my cuts heal quick! What makes you special?”

 _I can summon an army of the dead_ probably wasn’t the best answer to give an eight-year-old. “I can teleport,” Nico offered hesitantly. “It’s called shadow travel. But it makes me, uh, really tired.”

Tina nodded solemnly. “Travelling makes Mama tired, too,” she told him. “A lot of things make Mama tired. She says she’s fine but Mother and I don’t believe her. Mother makes her rest all the time.”

Was Tina’s mama sick? Surely it was nothing Apollo couldn’t help with? Nico frowned, catching Will’s eye. Will shook his head. _Cancer_ , he mouthed.

Well, shit. What could Nico possibly say to that?

“Sounds like your mother is good at taking care of people,” Nico managed quietly.

“Yup!” Tina agreed happily. “Will’s good at that, too, don’t you think?”

Nico resolutely did not meet Will’s eye. “Yeah, he is,” he agreed, ignoring the heat in his face, because really, there was no reason to feel embarrassed about stating a fact that was known throughout camp.

“Aw, shucks,” said Will, sounding pleased. “How sweet of you to say.”

“Shut up,” mumbled Nico grumpily, resisting the urge to scuff his foot against the ground.

Tina looked between the two of them, giggling. “Mama gets embarrassed too,” she said, delighted. “Ooh, I have a great idea! Let’s play house!”

Nico froze. “Uh.”

“Will can be Mother and Nico can be Mama and I’ll be Tina!” Tina decided, oblivious to (or ignoring) Nico’s discomfort.

Will cleared his throat. “Sure, if that’s okay with Nico,” he said, throwing a quick, nervous smile at the other boy. What did that mean? Was he just awkward about being pretend-married to another guy? Was he nervous because he liked Nico? Or was he nervous because he ~~knew~~ thought Nico liked him and he didn’t like Nico back _oh_ _gods_ –

Nico sighed. Even if Will didn’t ~~know~~ think so, there was no way he wouldn’t after this stupid game. Nico should really just say no and continue on his peaceful morning walk before Will found out about his _totally non-existent_ crush on him.

“Yeah, okay,” said his traitorous mouth.

“Awesome!” cheered the half-siblings, identical sunny smiles on their faces directed straight at Nico. He was going to go blind by breakfast time, he just knew it.

What had he gotten himself into?

\--

Apparently Tina’s moms hadn’t been too strict with what Tina was allowed to watch on TV, because playing house soon became playing soap opera.

And, surprisingly, Nico was enjoying himself.

“Mother, I saw Mama holding hands with our neighbour Uncle Bill,” Tina stage-whispered to Will.

“What,” gasped Will dramatically, a hand clutching his heart as he stared at Nico in horror. “How could you!”

“No, that wasn’t– we were shaking hands, he was thanking me for–”

“For what, a good _date_?”

“For the pie we gave him,” Nico finished, frustrated. “Can we– not talk about this in front of our daughter?”

To Nico’s horror, Will appeared to burst into tears, burying his face in his hands. “You always do this!”

“Do what?!”

“Avoid the topic,” Will wailed, and the words struck Nico in the heart. _He’s just acting_ , Nico told himself, dismissing all the memories of when Nico had done exactly that. Surely Will hadn’t _noticed_ him changing the subject when relationships came up.

Right?

“I-I don’t avoid the topic,” Nico protested weakly.

“Yes, you do,” Will sniffled mournfully, one blue eye peeking out between his fingers, staring Nico right in the eye. “Tell me the truth: is there someone else?”

Nico was aghast. “No!”

“Then?” Will’s voice was softer now, more tender. His hands fell away from his face, instead reaching forward to grasp Nico’s elbows gently. “You know– you know I love you, right?”

Nico’s breath caught in his throat. “You do?” he nearly whispered, heart pounding like crazy.

Was it just his imagination, or were Will’s hands shaking? “Of course I do,” he whispered back, stepping close to press their foreheads together.

Nico breathed out a sigh, savouring the contact. Of course. _Of_ _course_.

“And you?” Will prompted, breathless. “How do you feel about me?”

The words that Nico couldn’t even say to himself came easily. “I love you,” he admitted, honest and simple.

The smile Will sent him was small, but it made warmth spread in Nico’s chest. “Good,” he said, and kissed Nico.

“Oh!” giggled Tina, but Nico barely heard her, too busy winding his arms around Will and kissing back. Oh gods, this was happening. Will was actually kissing him. They were _kissing_ , oh gods!

“Well done!” Tina cheered when they broke apart, staring wide-eyed at each other. “Looked so real!”

Her words sent a jolt through Nico’s body. They were _playing_. It wasn’t real, Will didn’t actually _like_ him–

“I–” stammered Nico, panic making his breath come quick, “I have to–”

Will laced their fingers together, cutting Nico off. “Dude,” Will said, sounding exasperated but fond. “Don’t freak out.”

“I-I’m not freaking out!” Total lie. He was freaking out. He was freaking out very much, because Will was _holding his hand_ , oh _gods_.

Will obviously didn’t believe him, but let it slide, checking his watch instead. “Almost time for breakfast, we should get going.”

“Mama and Mother always ate breakfast with me,” Tina said hopefully.

“Good idea,” agreed Will, starting to lead them out of the woods. “We’ll sit at your table, Nico, it’s much less crowded there.”

“B-But everyone will _stare_ –”

Will squeezed his hand and flashed him a brilliant grin. “Let them,” he said simply.

Nico smiled back timidly. “Okay,” he said, and let Will drag him out into the sunshine.

**Author's Note:**

> (what a warm ending with literal sunshine child will pulling shadow boy nico out into the sunlight aaaahhhh)
> 
> So. Solangelo is a ship I didn't think I'd jump onto, but I got a couple of requests for it and ah, it's a cute dynamic after all. Still not sure of Will's character; time and experience should help clear that up, but if I've gotten anything terribly wrong in this one feel free to correct me in the comments! (Please try to be nice, though, I am but a smol cinnamon roll.)
> 
> Thanks for reading! Come show me some love on [my writing blog](http://haven-writes.tumblr.com) if you like :3


End file.
